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Post by Jade Harris on Jan 20, 2008 21:24:48 GMT -5
Jade slowly stacked each box of bullets on the highest shelf behind the counter. They were always running out of bullets for shot guns due to all the hunting. There really wasn't much to hunt but people still went after what little there was. Jade didn't like ordering these things but they were selling.
After the last one was stacked she moved over to the oats, her second best seller. She lugged each bag from the box onto the counter. She had very strong upper mussels for her small frame. She had had a lot of extra business these days. With the railroad on the way more and more people were showing up to make stead in the town.
The bell over the door rang alerting Jade to a new arrival in her little store.
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Post by Seamus Doherty on Jan 20, 2008 23:11:12 GMT -5
Having just left the Lone Star, Seamus strolled down the street a little ways and went into the general store, kicking the dust from his boots as he entered. The sound of the bell separated the store's comfortable dimness from the searing white sunlight outside. Seamus shook his hair out of his face and saw Jade hauling around bags of oats, and he couldn't help but smile; that girl could put a smile on anyone's face. He touched the brim of his cap. "Afternoon."
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Post by Jade Harris on Jan 20, 2008 23:28:33 GMT -5
Seeing that it was Seamus Doherty who walked in the door, Jade beamed brighter still. She liked Seamus. He was interesting and funny and had a lovely Irish voice. Were Jade the swooning type, she would probably have done so over Seamus. But she had never been the flirting kind. Seamus was a friend, if even that.
"Afternoon to you, too, Seamus!" She finished shoving the last bag up and dusted off her hands. "Now, what can I get ya on this fine day? Just got in some new seeds fer crops. Or are you looking for something fer yer beef?"
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Post by Seamus Doherty on Jan 20, 2008 23:47:38 GMT -5
He started to drift around the shelves, hands in his pockets, saying, "Need another box o' nails for the boys fixing up that shed." For a week or so the ranch workers had been rebuilding an old shed that had collapsed, and Seamus had been sent for supplies several times. They all seemed to share his philosophy on doing work: you're getting paid anyway so there's no need to rush. "An' some more rope." He glanced over his shoulder and added wryly, "It's me own theory that the cows are eatin' it."
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Post by Jade Harris on Jan 21, 2008 0:03:44 GMT -5
"Another box of nails? You boys building one shed or a whole barn?" She moved a little past hwere he was looking around the shelves and grabbed the box, standing on her tip toes to reach it. She grabbed one of the bigger ones. "Maybe that'll keep ya for awhile. Less ya were thinkin' ya wanted t' get the smaller box, yearn another break b'fore working."
"It's me own theory that the cows are eatin' it."
Jade laughed. "Your meat do that in Ireland? Boy I sure hope that is the case 'cause buisness would sure take a mighty large boom." She moved back over to the counter where she kept the rope. "Now how much ya need and what size?"
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Post by Seamus Doherty on Jan 21, 2008 0:30:04 GMT -5
Seamus clapped a hand over his heart and pretended to look aggrieved at the suggestion that he would avoid work in such a manner. "Yeh wound me, lass." But he accepted the big box and followed her to the counter, choosing not to explain what he suspected was really happening to many of the nails, which is that they were being used as rather ineffective ammunition for a slingshot owned by a certain one of his associates.
After a moment of looking over the different kinds of rope he gestured at one. "Fifty feet should do it." Then he lifted his head as if just remembering something and headed straight for one of the shelves. He returned and plunked a tin of coffee down on the counter. When the ranch hands weren't in the saloon, coffee was about all they drank.
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Post by Jade Harris on Jan 21, 2008 1:51:36 GMT -5
"Fifty feet it is," she uncoiled the rope only to coil it again over her arm and elbow. She measured until she was sure she had fifty feet and the picked up the knife and cut the rope. Jade looked up tot see Seamus had come back with coffee. "Ah, yes, you and your lot will be needin' this." She put everyone on the counter and smiled again at Seamus. "That be all fer ya today?"
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Post by Seamus Doherty on Jan 21, 2008 2:50:34 GMT -5
"Aye, for today." He gave a lopsided grin. Being the youngest of the hands he ended up answering to pretty much every man on the ranch, so he wouldn't have been surprised if he found himself back in town the next day asking Jade for chewing tobacco or something.
A sharp squealing blast came from outside. It took a moment for Seamus to realize that it was a horse's neigh -- terror had severely distorted it. By the time he figured it out he had already heard a clattering of hooves, and by the time he heard a woman's shout he had already snatched his rope from the counter and was out the door.
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Post by Jade Harris on Jan 21, 2008 20:00:23 GMT -5
"Alright then," she wrote down what he took and how muchi it coast. Of course it was all going on the tab which would be paid up by the end of the month but that didn't matter much in the end. Everyone always paid in these parts. Folks were good in Horsehead.
The sound of a frightened horse made Jade drop her pencil and make a small "meep" sound. She heard a girl scream and jumped over the counter (glad she hadn't worn a dress and favorite pants instead today) and burst through the door after Seamus.
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Post by Cecil Carpenter on Jan 22, 2008 21:29:53 GMT -5
Not wanting Avery and Chase seeing her tears, Cecil saddled her stallion and mumbled an excuse to ride to the general store. She'd started thinking about Pa again while she was repairing the fence that bordered the land between the neighbor's land and the Carpenter's land.
Pa'd always said to char the ends of the fence posts so they'd stick to the ground better. And it'd been then that the tears in her eyes had been too much to handle. Besides, she needed more barbed wire for the damaged fence. She'd ask Jade for that.
She rode all the way to the general store, her tears mingling with the fresh air as she led the stallion on. "Ya!"
Cece slowed the horse down as they got to the store and Cece was just about to tie him up when suddenly she felt herself and the saddle sliding as the stallion stood on its hind legs, neighing to the high heavens. Cecil hung on for dear life on the saddle, but it was too late. A moment later, she was on the ground, moaning in pain.
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Post by Seamus Doherty on Jan 22, 2008 23:26:53 GMT -5
Panicking animal, person in danger of being trampled: that was all Seamus needed to know.
He strode confidently toward the horse with his arms outstretched. "Bog siar! Back! Back up!" His voice was raised but he wasn't shouting. He didn't want to spook it enough to make it bolt and put someone else in danger; with his peripheral vision he'd noted that he and Jade weren't the only ones who had come out to see what the commotion was. Wild-eyed, the stallion reared again, and Seamus moved in a semi-circle in an attempt to direct it away from the woman lying in the dirt.
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Post by Dale Harvey on Jan 22, 2008 23:43:18 GMT -5
The sound of screams had brought Dale rushing out. He hadn't really known what he had expected to find outside but a girl about to be killed by a horse and a skinny red-headed boy trying to stop it was at the bottom of the list. He took in the scene around him and weighed his options. But when he saw the horse rear up it's legs once more, the choices became far more narrow.
Moving quickly, Dale shot across to the other side of the street and dove, arms out, capturing the girl in his arms and pulling them both out of the way as the hooves came down. "GET!" His voice was loud, commanding and deadly, his arms still wrapped tight around the girl as he looked up in case the horse missed the commanding tone in his voice.
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Post by Cecil Carpenter on Jan 23, 2008 0:09:13 GMT -5
Cece knew all hell had broken loose; her vision was blurred with the dust cloud that surrounded her and the searing pain in her back was making it impossible for her to move around at all. She hoped to the almighty God that the horse's hooves wouldn't come crashing down on her face.
She let out a shriek. The stallion was right near her. Too near. She could hear his hooves on the ground and his neigh of protest. He'd been scared by God knew what. She just make out Seamus's yells, too. shit, Cece thought. This was the end...
Just as she had been thinking about death and how it would be, a pair of strong arms hooked around her and pulled her out from the horse's reach.
"GET!"
Cece remembered to breathe.
The stallion finally calmed down and Cece saw Seamus trying to soothe the horse while tying it to a nearby post.
"Gawd, 'm sorry," Cece drawled, turning to look at his savior. Well, Cecil could definitely see that her near-death experience was definitely worth it. "I don' know wha' got 'nto 'im. He ain't ne'er been like tha' before..."
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Post by Seamus Doherty on Jan 23, 2008 0:32:07 GMT -5
A man rushed past and before Seamus could do anything, he shouted so fiercely at the horse that it thundered away.
"Ciach ort!" he shot at the intruder in frustration, dashing after the stallion. He'd almost had it! Who did this guy think he was?
It didn't go far, luckily, and Seamus approached it with caution. "Fóill, buachaill, fóill... tá sé ceart go leor... Easy now..." Eventually it calmed enough to let him stroke its neck, and he continued to murmur reassuringly. "Easy now, you're all right." He draped his new coil of rope over his shoulder and took the trailing reins in hand. The horse was still skittish, but he managed to lead it over to the hitching post in front of the store and tie it up, stroking its head and speaking to it all the while.
Then he turned to the man who'd chased the horse away. And saved the woman, apparently, but hey! Seamus was doing that fine! "Yeh could've gotten somebody else hurt, chasin' t' poor t'ing off like that." But what was done was done, and nothing had happened. He sighed, let his hair fall over his face, and turned partway back to the horse.
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Post by Dale Harvey on Jan 23, 2008 0:40:48 GMT -5
After the horse had run off, Dale looked down at the girl in his arms. He was instantly glad he saved her. She was.... perfect. He had never seen any female so perfect. Her eyes, god he could drown himself in those eyes. When she spoke her voice was like music in the outlaw's ears.
"I don' know wha' got 'nto 'im. He ain't ne'er been like tha' before..."
Dale chuckled and smirked. "Now don' fret yerself, miss," he said in a low, husky voice, reaching up a had to fix her hair. "More than happy t' help." He kept looking in her eyes. Such lovely eyes. Only when he heard the red-headed man's complaints did he turn around.
"Sorry, son, but ya weren't gonna save the girl wif yer gaelic." It was true. While the boy had calmed the horse it would not have happened soon enough. "But ya did do well by that horse just now. Well done." His eyes went back to the girl, still in his arms. "Can ya stand?"
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